St Donats Arts Centre is examining its legal position following the decision of Arts Council Wales (ACW) not to reinstate its revenue funding, despite a successful appeal. All six of the organisations threatened with cuts appealed against the decision. Four have been rejected and one is still pending.
However, the Independent Appeal Panel overturned ACW’s decision to cut St Donats’ funding, which had been made on the grounds that the Vale of Glamorgan-based venue was neither one of ACW’s designated Regional Performing Arts Centres nor located within an area of identified deprivation. Janet Smith, the General Manager of the centre, told AP that ACW’s reasons for making the cut were “prejudicial and not evidence-based”, and said that the expectation was that their grant would be fully restored. ACW has instead offered a further eight months’ funding to give St Donats “time to seek alternative core funding sources”. Smith says that this is an “unprecedented” outcome which leaves the centre’s future “in jeopardy”.